Electric lighting fixture



June 12, W23. 7 1,458,157

. H. J. STRICH ELECTRIC LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed May 19. 1920 Patented June 12, 1923.

NHTB .fiTfitS PATENT FFEQQ HAROLD J. STRICH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO I). BLOC H & CO., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING FIXTURE.

Application filed May 19, 1920. Serial No. 382,561.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD J. STRICH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and 5 State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Lighting Fixtures, of which the following is a s ecifi'cation.

' he invention pertains more especially to 19 novel means for removably mounting an electric lighting fixture on an ornamental base, preferably a vase of porcelain or other material, and it consists in the novel features of construction and arrangement of parts 1 hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The object of the invention is to provide convenient means whereby an electric lightingfixture may be mounted on an ornaso mental vase, for household use, without boring or cutting the vase, the fixture itself possessing novel features adapting t for application to vases of standard proportions or to vases of varying neck dimensions such as may be in the possession of persons desiring to employ the fixture.

The structure of my invention, aside from the lamp-bulb or bulbs, comprises a rotary supporting standard adapted at its upper end to receive the lamps and a shade and at its lower end to enter the neck of a vase, a cap on said standard to cover over the mouth of the vase, hinged arms depending within the neck of the vase from said cap and means as within the' neck of the vase and cooperating with said standard on the rotary movement thereof in one direction for spreading said arms against the inner walls'of the neck of the vase and thereby clamp or secure the 1 fixture in position on the vase, as a base, and,

on the reverse rotation of the standard, allowing said arms to recede from the walls of the vase, thereby freeing the fixture for removal from the vase.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accmpanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in central 50 vertical section and partly broken away, of

an electric lighting fixture embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through a portion of the same taken on the dotted line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section, partly broken away, through a portion of the structure and illustrating more particu-- prises a tubular standard 18, lamps 14 and 'shade'15 supported at the upper end thereof,

conductors 16 extending through the bore of the standard to the lamps 1%, nuts 17 18 on the lower threaded end of said standard, a cover or cap 19 loosely connected with said standard by said nuts, depending curved .arms 20 hinged to the lower surface of said cap and an internally threaded disk 21 on the lower threaded end of the standard 13 and provided with a laterally extending finger or arm 22 adapted to engage a side edge of one or another of the arms 20.

The standard 13 is a piece of tubing and .has an externally threaded lower end, and

upon thelower end portion of the said standard I loosely secure the cap 19 between the adjacent ends of the nuts 17, 18, which while suitably holding the capdo not bind against the same but permit of the rotation of the standard within the opening 23 of the cap and their own rotation with said standard without causing the rotation of the cap, it being necessary that the standard be capable of rotary movement and desirable that the cap 19 may remain stationary while the standard is in motion.

The nut 17 has an upper flange 24and is provided with a set-screw 25 by which the nut may be secured in fixed adjusted position on the standard 13. The nut 18'has an upper cup-portion 26 to slide upon and receive the body of the nut 17 and is provided with a set-screw 27 by which the nut may be secured in fixed adjusted position on the standard 13. The nut 17 is first applied on the standard and the cap 19 is then passed upwardly on the standard and against the flange of said nut, and thereafter the nut 18 is screwed upwardly on the standard until the upper edge of its cup-portion 26 is in proper relation to and'may support the cap 19, after which the screw 27 will be tightened to hold the nut 18 in fixed position. The cap 19 and nuts 17, 18 are vertically adjustable on the standard 13, and this feature of the construction is highly desirable. in adapting the fixture to vases varying in their details of formation, and it is also desirable: that the nuts 17,: 18 may be secured in their. adjustments so that they may properly maintain the cap 19 in correct position and'not lose their own position durin the axial rotation of'the standard 13.

The cap 19 has a depending annular flange or skirt portion 28 and is adapted to serve as a cover for vases whose mouth portion is adapted therefor. The vase 10 shown in the drawing has a mouth which is 'too large to be closed by the capv 19 alone and therefore I provide the cap with enlarging rings 29, 30 so as to expand the same sufficiently to cover the moutlrofthevase 10. As many enlarging rings as may be necessary to suit the mouths of vases may be made use'of. The ring 29 has an upwardly extending inner circumferential flange to receive the skirt of the cap 19 and an outer depending annular flange to fit over an inner upwardly extendingflange on the ring 30, which has an outer depending flange 31 to fit over the mouth of the vase 10, as may be readily understood on reference to Fig. 1. The cap 19 will be used alone on vases whose mouth it will suitably cover, and for, larger vases orvases having larger mouths a ring 29 or ringsf29, 30 will be added to the cap 19, as the occasion may require.

The cap-'19 has suspended from it the equidistant arms20, which may be of sheet metal and "at their upper ends are looped loosely around pins 32 secured to said cap, whereby said arms become hinged to said cap and may be swung outwardly from or inwardly toward the vertical center line of the standard 13. The arms 20 are preferably of the special shape shown, each arm having an upper inwardly curved section 33 merging at its lower end into an outwardly curved section 34, which returns inwardly,- as at 35, whence the arm bows outwardly, as at 36. The arm-sections 33,34, 35, 36, adapt the arms 20 for vases varying inneck-size In the illustration preand neck-outline. sented herein the sections 34, 36 may engage the throat ofthe contracted neck-portion 12 of the vase; andwith other forms or sizes of vases diilerent'portions of the arms 20 will engage the inner neck-walls thereof.

The arms 20 of the shape shown aiford a wide range of aptitude to the varying necks of vases,'and said arms 20 will preferably be of yielding or spring metal so as to resiliently bind against the walls of the Vases with the minimum liability of injuring the same.

The internally threaded disk 21 is within the outline of and at its edges engaged by the hanging arms 20, and said disk is employed as acircul'ar cam or wedge for forcing the arms 20 outwardly against the neck of the vase or permitting said arms to recede inwardly from said neck. The disk 21 has an internally threaded opening adapted to the external thread on the lower end of the standard 13, and when said standard is rotated in one direction it will turn said disk until the finger or arm 22 thereon strikes the forwardly adjacent arm 2O, as shown in Fig. 2, when said disk will become arrested so far as turning. action in the same direction is concerned, and thereupon on the continued rotation of the standard 13 the screw-thread thereon will cause the disk 21 to move upwardly against the. outwardly and downwardly inclined portions of the arms 20 and cause said arms to spread outwardly with binding effect against the throat of the vase, asshown in Fig. 1, where- 90 by the lighting fixture becomes secured to the vase, the latter then serving .as a base for the fixture. When, it is desired to re- I move the fixture from the vase, thestandard will have the effect of turning the disk 21 until its finger or arm 22'strikes the rearwardly adjacent arm 20 and arrests the disk against further rotation in the same. direction, and thereupon on the continued rotation of the standard 13 the disk will be caused to descend on the sameand in doing so will allow the arms '20 toclose: inwardly from the throat of the vase and release. the. fixture to be lifted off fromthe vase;

The operation of the/features of myin vention will be understood from the foregoing description and therefore further explanation as to the same is unnecessary. The; lighting fixture may behandled as a unit and applied to and removed from vasesof varying character at will and'without injury to the vases. The same fixture maybe applied to different vases at different times. and thus the effect or appearance of the lighting devic'e'may be modified as occas'io may render desirable.

What I claim as my invention-"and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is? I 1. A lamp of the character-described 00m prising, in combination, a hollow base portion haying a. mouth and neck, anda"fix'tu're to be applied thereto and removable therefrom comprising a vertical rotary tubularstandard provided'on its upper end with an electric lamp bulb and containingwithin it the electric wires for said bulb-and 'hav-' ing a threaded lower end, a series of resilient sheet metal arms depending into said neck, a non-rotary support to which saidv arms are hinged and a wedge-disk on the threaded end of said standard and between said arms and having a laterally projecting finger to engage the edge of one of said arms on the rotation of said standard for arresting said disk against rotation, said arms having downwardly and outwardly inclined portions to engage said disk and having outwardly curved portions to engage said neck.

2. A lamp of the character described comprising, in combination, a hollow base havin a mouth and neck, a cover therefor comprising a central cap and an encompassing concentric ring, and a fixture to be applied to said base and removable therefrom and comprising a vertical rotary tubular standard having on its upper end an electric lamp bulb and containing within it the electric wires for said bulb and having'a threaded upon the lower end of said standard for receiving the central portion of said cap, which is apertured, and loosely hold the same so that said cap becomes non-rotary, a series of resilient sheet metal arms freely hinged to and depending from-said central cap into said neck and a wedge-disk on the lower end of said standard and between said arms and having a laterally projecting finger to engage the edge of one of said arms on the rotation of said standard for arresting said disk against rotation, said arms having downwardly and outwardly inclined portions to be engaged by said disk and outwardly curved portions to engage said neck.

Signed at New York City, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 10th day of May A. D. 1920.

HAROLD J. STRI'GH.

lower end, means 

